FDA set to fast-track efforts to authorize COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for the immunocompromised: reports

Federal health officials are set to fast-track efforts to greenlight COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for immunocompromised Americans, according to reports.

The Food and Drug Administration is soon expected to review new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that supports the use of additional vaccine shots for those with weakened immune systems, The Washington Post reported Friday.

FDA officials will revise the emergency use authorizations for the coronavirus vaccines to include extra doses for the immunocompromised if they are compelled by the data, the news outlet reported.

The extra jabs could be authorized within days or weeks, anonymous federal officials told The Washington Post.

The New York Times also reported Friday that the FDA is moving to ramp up efforts to recommend the extra doses for those who are immunocompromised.

"The data are unequivocal that they have not gotten a good response to begin with" and need extra doses, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor, told the Times in an interview.

Fauci added, "There is much, much more of a compelling reason to do that sooner rather than later."

The move comes as COVID-19 cases are surging across the country, thanks to the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.